MSP to raise Dundee Social Work vacancies with Scottish Government

14 July 2009

Marlyn Glen is to raise with the Scottish Government figures from Dundee City Council showing that there is a vacancy rate of almost 10 per cent in social worker posts on the council.Ms. Glen welcomed the recent decision made by the council to invest an extra £500,000 in social work, including money for more staff.

She said that there was an “urgent need for the Scottish Government to help the council to attract more staff to Dundee and to help sustain the improvements that the additional £500,000 will bring.”

Ms. Glen said that she would be seeking further information from the council on matters such as caseload levels of social workers, co-working on child protection matters,

staffing levels in all social work teams, agency staffing, and supervision and support.The figures released to Ms. Glen the council indicate that there is a 10 per cent vacancy rate in posts for social workers on the council, with half of those posts having remained vacant for over a year.

The Scottish Government indicated last August that it regarded the then overall Scottish vacancy rate for social work posts as “relatively high”

In whole term equivalent terms (WTE) there are 125 qualified social workers on Dundee City Council, plus 6 Senior Practitioners.

There are 12.4 vacant posts, 6.4 of which have been vacant for more than 12 months.

The council say that 5 newly qualified Social Workers have been employed in the last year.

There are 55.7 WTE Social Workers with specific responsibility for child protection plus 4 Senior Practitioners.